Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar with Oriental Trading

When it comes to decorating for Christmas, I am one of the crazy ones that likes to have it all done before Thanksgiving. Something about the feeling you get when the tree is lit, the mantel is set and the glitter and glitz is everywhere. That is one reason I have always loved advent calendars. They MUST go up by December 1st to get the full use out of them. This year I decided to do something different, and create my own. With a little help from Oriental Trading and their fantastic variety of Christmas and Party Supplies, I was able to create my own to display proudly in the center of my dining room. It is so simple to put together, and a great project to get the little ones involved in.

Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar made easy with a little help from Oriental Trading!

Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar – Pin it for later!

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When I was a little girl, I remember looking forward to opening up those tiny little windows on the cardboard advent calendar every day. I have two siblings, so we always had to take turns opening up the windows. Except for one year when we each had our own! Those are the memories I keep close to my heart and cherish every day. I still do an advent calendar with my boys each year. They are always a little different, and usually something personalized. This year I decided to take a small shelf I found at a garage sale for $1 and turn it into something we can use for years to come.

advent-calendar5

I was so thrilled with the way it turned out, it fits perfectly on the sewing table we made over a few months back, for all to see.

I found this odd wood piece with little dips along each shelf. At first, I wasn’t quite sure what it was actually made for. After a little investigating, I found out it was a golf ball display case. Since I am not a pro golfer and I do not have any golf balls to display, I decided it would be the perfect housing for our annual Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar! 

golf-display

Here is a look at the before. You can see all the little dips where the balls would go. I did not want those to show at all, I also didn’t want to have to fill each one with some kind of filler. So I simply flipped it over! Since the top and bottom frame was identical, you couldn’t even tell that it was upside down.

Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar – How to

Materials used:

Wooden shelf

Fusion Mineral Paint – Casement White

Clear 2-inch gift boxes from Oriental Trading

Shredded Gift bag filler from Oriental Trading

Holiday Paper from Oriental Trading

Chocolates

Vinyl numbers

Embellishments made on my Cricut Explore Air

This sweet advent calendar was so easy to put together using the supplies received from Oriental Trading. It was as simple as assembling the clear gift boxes, adding a little filler and a sweet treat, and applying the vinyl numbers.

I tried to mix it up with different chocolates. The teens may be picky with food, but when it comes to chocolate, anything is good for them.

Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar made easy with a little help from Oriental Trading!

It was super cute on its own with just the candy filled boxes, but it needed just a little something more. I used my Cricut Explore Air and cut out the cute candy canes and Merry Christmas topper out of card stock. There are so many varieties of paper, you can find just about any color, theme, or size to match your projects.

The sewing table was lacking a little somethin’ somethin’ with just the advent calendar on it. So I scattered around a few glitter ornaments and fuzzy pom poms to give it a little life. The ornaments can also be found at Oriental Trading, and guess what they are clear so you can make them any color or design you like.

Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar made easy with a little help from Oriental Trading!

Just pop them open, give them a generous coating of mod podge, and your favorite glitter. Once they are dry, pop them back together and use them however you like. To dress up a table, personalize for gifts, even add fun notes inside for your guests. There is tons of stuff you could do with these ornaments.

Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar made easy with a little help from Oriental Trading!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed creating it. Bring a little Christmas into your home, and make a fun Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar with your family today!

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2 thoughts on “Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar with Oriental Trading”

  1. You outdid yourself with this fantastic homemade Advent Calendar. I just love it so much. I am wondering what is in the Christmas Day box. I seriously want to make this kind of calendar someday and have a shelf in mind. Happy Thanksgiving.

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